Ex-soldier who bragged he had "the best drugs in Scarborough" jailed for dealing heroin and crack cocaine

George Blair, 22, whose distinguished military career included a tour of Afghanistan, operated two ‘County Lines’ on the east coast – one before his arrest and the other while on bail.

Broadcast messages sent out on his phones boasted of the “the best (Class A drugs) in town”, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Calum McNicholas said that Blair had recruited youths to assist him in his illicit trade.

He was first arrested on June 12 last year after two officers in a marked car followed his silver Subaru car through Scarborough after a check of his registration plate on the national database revealed it wasn’t taxed.

Police pulled over the vehicle on Sea Cliff Road.

A teenage boy who was in the passenger seat immediately got out of the vehicle and ran off, fleeing down a ravine.

One of the officers chased him while the other dealt with Blair who told the constable that he thought his male passenger had “just been to the shop on the seafront that sells weapons”.

The officer searched the car and found a large machete and 14 wraps of Class A drugs and an iPhone.

The other officer caught up with the fleeing youth who was found with £450 in cash and an iPhone.

During a search of the route along which the teenager had fled, the officer found two discarded plastic bags which contained 14 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

Forensic analysis of the phone seized from Blair revealed he had been sending “broadcast” messages out to drug users in Scarborough advertising Class A drugs for sale.

Those block messages were sent out to 508 potential drug customers between May 31 and the day of his arrest two weeks later.

In those messages, Blair had bragged that he had the “best (drugs) in town” and that he was “active in Scarborough”.

During questioning the following day, he refused to answer police questions.

He was bailed on condition that he didn’t enter North Yorkshire.

However, 16 days later, officers noticed that another drug-supply line, linked to a different phone number, was in operation in Scarborough.

That phone had been sending out broadcast messages advertising drugs for sale between June 26 and June 29.

In those messages, Blair told his client base that he was “back on Scarborough” on a new number and had “white and brown deals”.

On June 29, two officers went on a stakeout in Scarborough and saw Blair and a male youth getting off a bus in Westborough, just outside Scarborough Railway Station.

Blair and the youth, followed by the two officers, went inside a fast-food restaurant nearby where the teenager fled up a flight of stairs into the toilets.

Blair was searched by one of the officers who seized a mobile phone which had been sending the block messages.

The officer who followed the youth found a knife and drugs discarded in the toilet cubicles.

The drugs included six grams of heroin and just under 10g of crack cocaine.

Blair was arrested again and charged with four counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, driving without insurance or a licence, and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a machete.

He admitted the drug and motoring offences, but the prosecution ultimately dropped the weapon charge.

Blair, currently of no fixed address, appeared for sentence via video link today (Jan 2) after being remanded in custody following his second arrest.

Mr McNicholas said that the ex-soldier, who had never been in trouble before, had recruited young males to assist in his drug enterprise.

Defence barrister John Bottomley said Blair had served in the army since leaving school.

Following a distinguished four-year military career in which he served in Afghanistan and helped his country during the Covid pandemic, he got in with the “wrong crowd”, started taking drugs and built up a debt which he repaid by dealing.

He said that Blair had had a very good upbringing and his family and partner had spoken of their “pure shock” at his criminal activities.

Mr Bottomley said that his client, who is a father, felt he had “done more good than bad in the world” following his military service.

However, judge Simon Hickey said it could only be an immediate prison sentence despite Blair otherwise being a “young man of exemplary character”.

He told Blair: “You must realise that this court sadly has to deal with numerous cases of (County Lines and Class A) drug supply in Scarborough, and sadly when one (dealer) is jailed, another steps forward to (continue the supply line).

“I note you were a serving army officer.

"It’s with a heavy heart that a judge in my position has to send a man of exemplary character to prison for such a time.”

Blair was handed a five-year jail sentence but will only serve half of that, minus the time he has spent on remand, before being released on prison licence.